ImBillT
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2018
- Messages
- 3,889
While true, this omits some key variables. Lewis and Clark did hit areas that were largely devoid of game and it was due to predators. The predators were human - native americans. Lewis referenced such and historical review and knowledge of the movements of plains indians across the landscape confirms. This has been studied extensively, so we can't take the point completely out of context in the discussion. Another key factor is, at that time, the native americans (and later pioneers) hunted for subsistence, 365 days per year and they were not picky in what they killed. What they didn't kill they certainly drove out of the area. When they started to run low on food, they moved on to other areas with more game.
It certainly is a fact that humans can impact animal populations. The lack of game in the early 20th century led to the conservation movement we have today. We almost totally eliminated the wolf in the lower 48 the first time by shooting, trapping, poisoning, and raiding dens and killing pups year-round. It is certainly up for debate as to whether modern hunters can impact a population under current regulations of hunting seasons and tag/harvest constraints. The conservation season on snow geese is a perfect example. The geese learned to utilize our changes to the habitat and the population exploded. Now, even after 20years of extended seasons with e-callers, plug less shotguns, and no limits, the season carries on because it hasn't had much of an impact. The few years Wisconsin had a wolf season the limits were set at a level intended to reduce population, and 650 wolves or so were killed, so maybe that was enough to reduce the population if it had continued. Hard to say.
The bottom line is that we as humans are arrogant. We think it is our right to manage and exploit all natural resources and we think we can do so with perfect foresight. Unfortunately, we usually just screw things up. More recent studies have show that when hunters/trappers kill the lead members of the pack, the pack usually disbands and depredation of livestock increases. So hunters might feel like they are making a difference, but they might just be irritating another stakeholder who has a loud voice in the conversation.
I don’t remember saying that humans couldn’t impact animal population. Obviously we can. That’s why we regulate hunting, and that why hunting regulations have helped restore game populations.
Wolves don’t follow hunting regulations, and that’s one of the reasons that game populations should be ONE of the criteria used to decide how we manage wolves.